{"id":875877,"date":"2026-08-29T14:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875877\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T14:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:00:16","slug":"adele-parks-if-i-could-edit-my-past-id-be-fitter-younger-i-would-have-been-hotter-life-and-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875877\/","title":{"rendered":"Adele Parks: \u2018If I could \u200bedit my pas\u200bt, I\u2019d be fitter younger \u2013 I\u200b would have been hotter\u2019 | Life and style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in North Yorkshire, Adele\u00a0Parks, 57, studied English at the University of Leicester then worked in advertising. In 2000, she published her debut novel, Playing\u00a0Away, and has since written a book every year. Her latest is Eyes on You. Her work has been translated into 31 languages and in 2022 she was awarded the MBE for services to\u00a0literature. She is an ambassador for charities promoting literacy including the National Literacy Trust, which is\u00a0collaborating with the Department for\u00a0Education on the National Year of Reading 2026. Parks is married with\u00a0a\u00a0son, and lives in Surrey.<\/p>\n

What is the trait you most deplore\u00a0in\u00a0yourself?
Speaking negatively to myself.<\/p>\n

What is the trait you most deplore\u00a0in\u00a0others?
Laziness.<\/p>\n

What was your most embarrassing\u00a0moment?
When I concentrate, I put my thumb in\u00a0my mouth. I once did it during a\u00a0really important meeting when asked a\u00a0question I didn\u2019t know the answer to. When I left the meeting my friend said: \u201cWhat did you put your thumb in your mouth for?\u201d I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d done it.<\/p>\n

Describe yourself in three words
Enthusiastic, resilient, empathetic.<\/p>\n

What would your superpower be?
Teleportation \u2013 but with clothes. I don\u2019t want to turn up anywhere naked.<\/p>\n

What makes you unhappy?
Hopelessness \u2013 when people have stopped believing they can improve or\u00a0a situation can improve.<\/p>\n

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
My last cat, Lilac, to meet the new cats.<\/p>\n

Who would play you in the\u00a0film\u00a0of\u00a0your\u00a0life?
Reese Witherspoon.<\/p>\n

Who is your celebrity crush?
Taylor Swift, because her lyrics are\u00a0so\u00a0thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

Which book are you ashamed not\u00a0to\u00a0have read?
I\u2019ve never read any Salman Rushdie.<\/p>\n

What was the last lie you told?
When people tell me about their book ideas, I never say: \u201cLook, don\u2019t bother \u2013 it\u2019s never going to get published.\u201d I\u00a0go: \u201cGo for it \u2013 you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Staying at home and playing Scrabble.<\/p>\n

To whom would you like to\u00a0say\u00a0sorry,\u00a0and why?
When I was in my 20s, I had an uncle who took his own life. I would like a\u00a0second chance to say: \u201cHang in there.\u201d My parents were living abroad, and me and my sister were just too young to notice the flags.<\/p>\n

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What or who is the greatest love\u00a0of\u00a0your life?
Jim [Parks\u2019s husband] will just have to\u00a0deal with this, but words are the love of my life. I have Jim because of words, I have my life because of words.<\/p>\n

What does love feel like?
A mix \u2013 safety to be yourself, acceptance, a feeling of peace and reliance, but also challenge, whether that\u2019s intellectual or emotional.<\/p>\n

If you could edit your past, what\u00a0would you change?
I would become fitter younger. Because I would have been hotter younger!<\/p>\n

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A sushi chef in my kitchen.<\/p>\n

What do you consider your greatest\u00a0achievement?
How much my son loves me, particularly considering I\u2019ve\u00a0had\u00a0a\u00a0huge career.<\/p>\n

What keeps you awake at night?
Plots.<\/p>\n

Would you rather have more sex,\u00a0money or fame?
I really like sex and I think it\u2019s so important because it\u2019s about connection. I\u2019m going with sex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born in North Yorkshire, Adele\u00a0Parks, 57, studied English at the University of Leicester then worked in advertising. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-875877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}